Upright post



United States Patent 3,265,018 UPRIGHT POST James E. Joyce, Battle Creek, Mich assignor to American Metal Products Company, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Filed Apr. 29, 1965, Ser. No. 451,891 Claims. ((31. 108-109) The present invention relates to an upright post of the type for supporting shelves and, more particularly, to an elongated post member having a plurality of slots spaced along and extending transversely through the member with a tongue extending inwardly from the lower extremity of each of the slots so that a shelf may be supported on the tongue in each slot without additional attaching means to secure each shelf to the post member.

Upright posts of the type for supporting shelves which have heretofore been utilized typically require one of various forms of attachment means to secure a shelf to the upright post. For example, it is very common to utilize bolts, screws, or the like, to secure a shelf to an upright post. Also, clips of various forms are frequently utilized to connect a shelf to an upright post so that the shelf is supported by the upright post. The use of additional attachment means to secure a shelf to an upright post requires an additional expense to manufacture and incorporate such attachment means into a shelf frame. Furthermore, the use of such additionalattachment means to secure the shelf to an upright post frequently makes it difficult, if not impossible, to rapidly assemble and disassemble upright posts and shelves to form a shelf frame.

In addition to the disadvantage of many of the prior art upright posts resulting from the necessary use of additional attachment means to secure the shelf to the post, many of such posts are not adapted to support more than one shelf at a particular vertical height therealong. That is to say, that the prior art upright posts usually utilize attachment means, such as bolts, screws, clips, or the like, to secure only one shelf at a particular height on the post whereas it is desirable that a post be adapted to support two shelves at the same vertical height so that the shelves may extend in opposite directions away from the post without requiring additional attachment means to secure the shelves to the upright post.

Accordingly, it is an object and feature of this invention to provide an upright post member of the 'type for supporting shelves Without the use of additional attachment or fastening elements, such as bolts, screws, rivets, clips, or the like.

It is another object and feature of this invention to provide an upright post member of the type for supporting shelves so that more than one shelf may be supported by the upright post member at a particular vertical height along the post member.

A further object and feature of this invention is to provide an upright post member of the type for supporting shelves which may be used as part of a shelf frame wherein shelves may be readily inserted and removed therefrom.

Another object and feature of this invention is to provide an upright post member of the type for supporting shelves which is an integral member inexpensively fabricated and having high strength characteristics.

In general, these and other objects and features of this invention may be attained by fabricating an upright post member in accordance with the instant invention so that the post is an elongated hollow member having parallel spaced first and second sides and parallel spaced third and fourth sides. A plurality of slots are spaced along and extend transversely of each of the first and second Patented August 9, 1966 "ice sides respectively. A tongue extends inwardly from each of the slots and the third and fourth sides have openings therein each of which is in substantial registry with one of the slots. Each of the openings in the third side has a lower edge disposed above the tongue in a particular slot and each of the tongues is disposed on the lower edge of one of the openings in the fourth side. A plurality of such elongated hollow upright members are utilized in a shelf frame with a plurality of shelves disposed between the elongated members by being supported in one of the slots in various respective elongated members. Furthermore, a plurality of shelves may be disposed in the slots along the first side of the elongated member and a plurality of shelves may be disposed in the slots along the second side of the elongated member so that the shelves extend away from each elongated member in two directions. In addition, some of the elongated post members forming the shelf frame may have slots along only one side thereof so that shelves extend only in one direction away from such an upright whereby such an upright may be used on one end or the other of such a shelf frame.

Other objects and attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of a shelf frame utilizing the upright post members constructed in accordance with the instant invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view in cross section taken substantially along the line 22 of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 4-4 of FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 5 is an isometric view of a modification of an upright post member constructed in accordance with the instant invention.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference numerals indicate like or corresponding parts through out the several views, there is shown, generally at 16, a shelf frame utilizing the upright post members, shown generally at 12 and 14, constructed in accordance with the instant invention.

The shelf frame 10 comprises a plurality of elongated hollow upright members 12 and 14, supporting a plurality of shelves 16. The elongated upright post members 12 and 14 are interconnected by the braces 18 which may be secured to the respective upright members in any appropriate manner such as by bolts, screws, or the like.

Each of the elongated hollow upright members 12 has parallel first and second sides 20 and 22 respectively and parallel third and fourth sides 24 and 26 respectively. A plurality of slots, generally shown at 28, are spaced along and extend transversely of the first side 20 and the second side 22 of each of the upright members 12, and along and transversely of a first side of each of the hollow upright post members 14. As it will be evident to those of ordinary skill in the art, the upright post members 14 need only have slots 28 along one side thereof since the upright post members 14 are utilized at the ends of the shelf frame 10.

A tongue 30 extends inwardly from the lower extremity of each of the slots 28. The third and fourth sides 24 and 26 have openings 32 land 34 respectively, each of which openings 32 and 34 is in substantial registry with one of the slots 28. The openings 32 in the third side 24 have a lower edge 36 disposed above the tongue 30 which is associated with the slot 28 with which the particular opening 32 is in substantial registry.

Each of the openings 34 in the fourth side 26 has a lower edge 38 and each of the tongues 30 is disposed on the lower edge 38 of one of the openings 34. Each tongue 30 is in part supported by the lower edge 38 of one of the openings 34.

As an alternative to cutting the material away to form the openings 32 and 34 respectively, the material may be turned inward to form flanges 44 and 46, as shown in FIGURE 5. Flanges 44 and 46 extend from the extremities of the openings 34 and 32 respectively inwardly so that they are substantially perpendicular to the tongues 30. The use of such flanges 44 and 46 may increase the strength characteristics of the upright posts 12 and 14.

The shelves 16 may be of any appropriate configuration so long as the shelf may be inserted into the slots 28 to rest on the tongue 30. The shelf 16 as illustrated has a flange 40 which is turned under at 42 to rest on the tongue 30. A shelf 16 may be inserted between a plurality of upright post members 12 and 14 by moving the shelf through the openings 32 so that a portion of the shelf is disposed in a slot 28 in each of the upright members to rest upon the tongue 30 and abut the lower edge 36 of the openings 32 so that the shelf 16 is supported against movement between four of the upright post members 12 and 14. When upright posts having the flanges 44 and 46 are utilized, each shelf also abuts the flanges 44 and 46 when disposed in a slot 28. A shelf 16 may be removed by lifting the shelf 16 above the lower edge 36 of the openings 32 to withdraw the shelf through the openings 32. In certain constructions of the upright post of the present invention, the openings 32 may be eliminated such that, when a shelf 16 is placed into a slot 28 to rest upon a tongue 30, the shelf abuts the third side 24.

The invention has been described in an illustrative manner and it is to be understood that the terminology which has been used is intended to be in the nature of words of description rather than of limitation.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

I claim:

1. A post of the type for supporting shelves comprising; an elongated hollow member having parallel spaced first and second sides and parallel spaced third and fourth sides, a plurality of slots spaced along and extending transversely of at least one of said first and second sides, a tongue extending inwardly from each of said slots, said third and fourth sides having openings therein each of which is in substantial registry with one of said slots, each of said openings in said third side having a lower edge disposed above said tongue associated with said slot with which said opening is in substantial registry, and each of said tongues being disposed on the lower edge of one of said openings in said fourth side.

2. A post of the type for supporting shelves comprising; an elongated hollow member having parallel spaced first and second sides and parallel spaced third and fourth sides, a plurality of slots spaced along and extending transversely of each of said first and second sides respectively, a tongue extending inwardly from each of said slots, said third and fourth sides having openings the-rein each of which is in substantial registry with one of said slots, each of said openings in said third side having a lower edge disposed above said tongue associated with said slot with which said openings is in substantial registry, and each of said tongues being disposed on the lower edge of one of said openings in said fourth side.

3. A post of the type for supporting shelve comprising; an elongated hollow member having parallel spaced first and second sides and parallel spaced third and fourth sides, a plurality of slots spaced along and extending transversely of each of said first and second sides respectively, a tongue extending inwardly from each of said slots, said third and fourth sides having openings therein each of which is in substantial registry with one of said slots, each of said openings in said third side having a lower edge disposed above said tongue associated with said slot with which said opening is in substantial registry, each of said tongues being disposed on the lower edge of one of said openings in said fourth side, and a flange extending from the extremity of each of said openings so as to be substantially perpendicular to one of said tongues.

4. A shelf frame comprising: a plurality of elongated hollow upright members each including; parallel spaced first and second sides and parallel spaced third and fourth sides, a plurality of slots spaced along and extending transversely of at least one of said first and second sides respectively, a tongue extending inwardly from each of said slots, said third and fourth sides having openings therein each of which is in substantial registry with one of said slots, each of said openings in said third side having a lower edge disposed above said tongue associated with said slot with which said opening is in substantial registry, each of said tongues being disposed on the lower edge of one of said openings in said fourth side; shelves disposed between said upright members; and said shelves having portions each of which extend-s into one of said slots for resting upon said tongue and abutting said third side below said opening therein whereby a plurality of shelves are removably supported between a plurality of said upright members.

5. A shelf frame comprising: a plurality of elongated hollow upright members each including; parallel spaced first and second sides and parallel spaced third and fourth sides, a plurality of slots spaced along and extending transversely of at least one of said first and second side-s respectively, a tongue extending inwardly from each of said slots, said third and fourth sides having openings therein each of which is in substantial registry with one of said slots, each of said openings in said third side having a lower edge disposed above said tongue associated with said slot with which said opening is in substantial registry, each of said tongues being disposed on the lower edge of one of said openings in said fourth side, a flange extending from the extremity of each of said openings and disposed substantially perpendicular to one of said tongues; shelves disposed between said upright members; and said shelves having portions each of which extends into one of said slots for resting upon said tongue, abutting said third side below said opening therein, and abutting said flanges whereby a plurality of shelves are removably supported between a plurality of said upright members.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,554,011 9/1925 Lehman 108107 1,851,192 3/1932 Lange 108-106 1,937,935 12/1933 Zimmerman 108--1 10 1,990,756 2/1935 Saaf 108107 2,005,593 6/1935 Onions et a1. 108-109 2,105,868 1/1938 Thomas 211148 FOREIGN PATENTS Ad. 61,953 12/1954 France.

997,559 9/1951 France.

FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

FRANK K. ZUGEL, Examiner. 

4. A SHELF FRAME COMPRISING: A PLURALITY OF ELONGATED HOLLOW UPRIGHT MEMBERS EACH INCLUDING; PARALLEL SPACED FIRST AND SECOND SIDES AND PARALLEL SPACED THIRD AND FOURTH SIDES, A PLURALITY OF SLOTS SPACED ALONG AND EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF AT LEAST ONE OF SAID FIRST AND SECOND SIDES RESPECTIVELY, A TONGUE EXTENDING INWARDLY FROM EACH OF SAID SLOTS, SAID THIRD AND FOURTH SIDES HAVING OPENINGS THEREIN EACH OF WHICH IS IN SUBSTANTIAL REGISTRY WITH ONE OF SAID SLOTS, EACH OF SAID OPENINGS IN SAID THIRD SIDE HAVING A LOWER EDGE DISPOSED ABOVE SAID TONGUE ASSOCIATED WITH SAID SLOT WITH WHICH SAID OPENING IS IN SUBSTANTIAL REGISTRY, EACH OF SAID TONGUES BEING DISPOSED ON THE LOWER EDGE OF ONE OF SAID OPENINGS IN SAID FOURTH SIDE; SHELVES DISPOSED BETWEEN SAID UPRIGHT MEMBERS; AND SAID SLEEVES HAVING PORTIONS EACH OF WHICH EXTENDS INTO ONE OF SAID SLOTS FOR RESTING UPON SAID TONGUE AND ABUTTING SAID THIRD SIDE BELOW SAID OPENING THEREING WHEREBY A PLURALITY OF SHELVES ARE REMOVABLY SUPPORTED BETWEEN A PLURALITY OF SAID UPRIGHT MEMBERS. 